"Obviously, we have to ask ourselves a very fundamental question. And that is, it is acceptable, can we live in a world where Kim Jong-un possesses not just nuclear weapons, but the ability to deliver those weapons against the continental United States? Can we live in a world like that?" he said.

"If the answer is no, then the options -- and the answer is no for me -- then the options before you are truly quite limited. And none of them are good," the senator said. "We must do almost whatever it takes, just about anything, to prevent Kim Jong-un from acquiring the nuclear capability he can deliver against the mainland of the United States of America."

Calls have been growing in the US for militarily taking out the North's ICBM capabilities, despite repeated warnings from experts that such a strike could quickly escalate into a second Korean War as the North is sure to strike back.

Last week, a ranking Republican senator, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), also said that the US should launch a preemptive strike on North Korea if that's what it takes to stop Pyongyang from building a missile capable of hitting the country.

"It would be terrible but the war would be over here (there), wouldn't be here," Graham said with a gesture with his fingers. "It would be bad for the Korean Peninsula. It would be bad for China.

It would be bad for Japan, be bad for South Korea. It would be the end of North Korea. But what it would not do is hit America and the only way it could ever come to America is with a missile." (Yonhap)